VST/AU plugin instrument/effect round-up: Week 68

We've got synth and piano instruments for you this week, alongside a drum machine, a sampler with a difference and a couple of effects.

Also make sure you check out these regularly updated features:

The 39 best VST plug-in synths in the world today

The 14 best VST plug-in drum machines in the world today

If you've got a new PC or Mac plug-in, make sure you let us know about it by emailing musicradar.pressreleases@futurenet.com with all the details.

NEXT: Psychic Modulation Construct

Layering is the name of the game with this drum machine, which is based on a “sound design workflow”. Powered by both synthesis and samples, you can use Transient, Oscillator and Ambience layers to build up each sound, and you can use up to eight drum modules.

Buy or download demo of Psychic Modulation Construct

Fancy bashing out a bit of ragtime? This sample-based instrument is designed to give you the appropriate sound, which can be tweaked using reverb, chorus, delay and lo-fi effects. A standalone, cross-platform Kontakt library is also included in the price.

Buy Adam Monroe Music Honky Tonk Piano

This replacement for the XS-2 emulates DCO technology from the '80s. There are two oscillators, three 6-stage envelope generators and a filter section that can be switched between mono and polyphonic. The synth is 8-note polyphonic.

Buy or download demo of Manx XS-3

Designed as an alternative to traditional EQs and compressors, Epoch promises “musically reactive” equalisation and compression that offers a “wider range of tonal colour” than its rivals. Notable elements of the central comb filter section include a “360 degree phase rotator” and a “fractional delay”.

Buy or download demo of Cerberus Audio Epoch Dynamic Comb Filter

A transient design plugin that can be used to boost the initial attack of certain instruments (to add more crack to a snare or kick, for example) and to simultaneously decay portions of audio. It's highly customisable, offering three independent transient bands and extreme settings that you can get creative with.

Buy or download demo of LVC-Audio Transector

It has a strange name and isn't much to look at, but Tkapik is actually an amplitude controlled generative sampler plugin. Or, to put it another way, once you've loaded it onto a track and loaded a sample into it, this will be triggered with random settings every time an amplitude peak is detected in the input signal.

Buy or download demo of Inear Display Tkapik

A collection of more than 50 sub and synth bass patches that are said to be suitable for use in hip-hop, R&B and dubstep. The idea is that they're ready to rattle your speakers right out of the box without any further processing. The control set is minimal, though you do get an ADSR envelope and a Glide knob.

Buy or download demo of Dopekitz.com SubStation SubBass Workstation